# Hygroset Front Mount Hygrometer



## blondie (Aug 9, 2012)

Anyone use one of these models? They are the ones that replace the brass analog ones on the front of your humidor. I also have the round Xikar model. Initially calibrated the Xikar for four hours using the salt test per mfg instructions. Held at a steady 69% for days. In the meantime, I picked up the front mount unit so I could see the RH without looking down through the glass top. Calibrated it as well. As soon as I installed it, it dropped to 55%. I checked a couple of cigars, and thought they might be a little dry. Freak out time. I start thinking the xikar has been off for a week, and I am killing my sticks. So off the the cigar store I go, Humidor in hand. Added the xikar crystal 250 in addition to the rectangle oasis foam humidifier that came with the unit. Recalibrated both hygrometers in the same bag with salt for 24 hours. Xikar reading 74% RH at 75 degrees, Hygroset Front mount reading 74% RH at 76 degrees. Press the xikar calibrate button, it's now reading 75% at 75 degrees. Give the hygroset one notch of adjustment, hit the button, it's now at 75%RH at 76 degrees. Placed the xikar on the top tray in the humi, and it is reading 69%RH at 75 degrees.

At the same time I reinstalled the Hygroset Front Mount in the hole in the front of the Humi. It is now reading 63%RH at 76 degrees. So I have a variance of 7% relative humidity with the two devices. They were calibrated in the same bag, at the same time, for the same length of time. I am surprised that there is a 7% variance in the readings though considering the calibration method I used. They had been calibrated separately before, but after 24 hours were at the same level of variance with one another. I feel pretty comfortable that they are reading accurately. So my question is:

Can there be a true variance of seven percent measuring at the different points in the Humidor? The size is 13-5/8 by 9-1/2 by 6-1/4, so it is not that big, and we're talking about a volume of less than 700 cubic inches. If I split the difference between the two devices I am at 66%. Some of my sticks feel a little drier than when I put them in there. Am I just obsessing too much? Don't want to ruin my sticks.

Sorry for the long post, but I am new and want to get this right.


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## A Midnight Maduro (Dec 29, 2011)

Did you season your humidor prior to putting your sticks in there?


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## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

A Midnight Maduro said:


> Did you season your humidor prior to putting your sticks in there?


That's what I was wondering as well. Also, it'll obviously read higher if you put the hygrometer right over the humidifying gel or foam. When you are calibrating your hygrometer, since you got the Front Mount kind, are you making sure the back side is away from obstruction? It doesn't make sense to block your sensor opening when you are calibrating.


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## Bondo 440 (Jul 24, 2012)

A Midnight Maduro said:


> Did you season your humidor prior to putting your sticks in there?


This is a good question. In case the humi is not done absorbing. But there are other things as well to note

- If you loaded your humi with cigars, it is going to release or absorb RH so it may take a while to stabolize. Give it a few days

- If your top tray is full of cigars, move some to the bottom, leave some of the vent holes in the tray open, instead of beng blocked with cigars. In a while RH inside the Humidor should equalize.

- The next may be obvious, but just in case... Some of the 1.75" digital puck hygrometers have the open ports in the front. Those are designed for affixing to the inside or laying inside the humidor. The one you need in a front face humidor hole, has holes to detect from the back. I was looking at picking a few up for my front panel analogs, and noticed their are two types. If you have the wrong type, the "inside" digi hygro will read correctly, however the front hygometer would actually be reading the room Rh


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## blondie (Aug 9, 2012)

A Midnight Maduro said:


> Did you season your humidor prior to putting your sticks in there?


Yes, I did do that. Did a light wipe, placed a wet sponge in there in a shallow gladware container with distilled water. It was reading 81 on the xikar for 24 hours after removing the sponge. The sponge sat in there for about three days. I did add a rack I made out of spanish cedar to the bottom as an aeration grid. That only had about 24 hours in the Humi before adding the sticks. It was all 3/16 stock, so should have been ok. So all together, it seasoned for about four days. The Xikar was rock steady at 69% for three days after that. Then when I added the front mount, I saw the difference in readings. Panic set in, so I hauled the Humi to the cigar store. Owner said he thought the sticks felt pretty good, and we put his rectangle Xikar Hygro in there, as well as his Western Scientific in there to compare readings. His Xikar went to 85%, the western read 71%. I just feel like the caps are a little crackly. The rest of the cigars are firm with a little give, no real noise.



Tman said:


> That's what I was wondering as well. Also, it'll obviously read higher if you put the hygrometer right over the humidifying gel or foam. When you are calibrating your hygrometer, since you got the Front Mount kind, are you making sure the back side is away from obstruction? It doesn't make sense to block your sensor opening when you are calibrating.


Just placing it inside the ziploc in the same manner as the zikar. In the bag, both get pretty much the same reading.



Bondo 440 said:


> This is a good question. In case the humi is not done absorbing. But there are other things as well to note
> 
> - If you loaded your humi with cigars, it is going to release or absorb RH so it may take a while to stabolize. Give it a few days
> 
> ...


I have both the hygrometers pictured in your response. Identical. The one on the left, the xikar, is sitting on the top tray, upper left corner. on the right hand side of the same tray, I have a rectangle Humidifier, with the green foam, used pg solution the first time, and have added distilled once. The one pictured on the right is the one I have installed in the analog opening on the front of the humidor, and it has the openings on the rear. On the back wall of the humidor, I have a Xikar crystal 250, the idea being that it should be more stable than just the green foam. There are some cigars in front of the Hygrometer, but there is some distance between them. Not sure if I can post photos or not, but will try to get some put up...


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## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

blondie said:


> Just placing it inside the ziploc in the same manner as the zikar. In the bag, both get pretty much the same reading.


You can make them read 75% RH even if you do them wrong. Xikar will read 75% as long as you have a stable RH% and press the calibrate button. You can make Hygroset read whatever you want them to. It doesn't mean you got a proper calibration. I just want you to eliminate any possibility for error on your calibration.

If you still think you got the calibration right, you got a leaky humidor. Either deal with it, or return it.


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## blondie (Aug 9, 2012)

Tman said:


> You can make them read 75% RH even if you do them wrong. Xikar will read 75% as long as you have a stable RH% and press the calibrate button. You can make Hygroset read whatever you want them to. It doesn't mean you got a proper calibration. I just want you to eliminate any possibility for error on your calibration.
> 
> If you still think you got the calibration right, you got a leaky humidor. Either deal with it, or return it.


Yeah, I get that. If I place the xikar in an environment at 40% humidity, and press the calibration button, it will read 75%. I also understand that the hygroset, in a given environment with a known RH, allows you to set the number of clicks, and then just changes the display. I did the flashlight, and the paper test on the humidor, and it passed those, so I do not think it is leaky. What I have done now is replace the analog hygrometer in the front mount area, and placed the Xikar in the bottom right corner of the humidor, and put the Hygroset in the tray where the xikar was. Leave it overnight, and see where they are at. So far the Hygroset is at 66% in the top tray. Will wait till AM to check the xikar. If things are not better/closer, I will perform a 48 hour calibration on the Hygrometers in the boveda bag, and then go from there. As a side note, when checking the cigars, I am giving them a gentle squeeze down the length from the foot to the head. It is when I put pressure on the cap that I am hearing a "crack" and then the cap pops loose on one side or the other.

Oh, and one other thing, we are dealing with Temps around here averaging 102+ 4PM to 6PM gets the hottest and can easily be 108-110 where I am in Arlington. Factor in the fact that average AC drops you 20 degrees from the outside temp, and you can see why I'm dealing with some good temp swings. In the AM around 6 it's like 73 in the house, and it steadily creeps up to around 85 as the day progresses. Why do I think there is a wineador in my future?


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## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

Temp swing is definitely a problem. You'll swing the RH% to reflect your temp swing. Something like Heartfelt or KL will help you somewhat with your temp swing. Sometimes, when the temp swing is a problem, wineador is the easiest solution. Good luck!


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## Bondo 440 (Jul 24, 2012)

Solve your problem right now. Get yourself Fresh Step Crystals cat litter.
Get your PG solution and DW sponge out of there, Put a small tray of the Kitty Litter in there. You are trying to add humidity to and environment that does not need it.
I just went through this with my twins here.










I also see Tman has come to the same conclusion while I was preparing this response.
Go to Walmart, spend $7 and your likely to be all set.


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## blondie (Aug 9, 2012)

Bondo 440 said:


> Solve your problem right now. Get yourself Fresh Step Crystals cat litter.
> Get your PG solution and DW sponge out of there, Put a small tray of the Kitty Litter in there. You are trying to add humidity to and environment that does not need it.
> I just went through this with my twins here.
> 
> ...


Those look identical to my humidors. Is that the Milano Glass Top made by Quality Importers and sold at a number of online vendors? If so, how is your seal? Mine seems pretty good. Do you just put kitty litter in with no moisture source?


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## blondie (Aug 9, 2012)

Alright, so here is where we are at. I did a 36 hour calibration on the hygrometers. They both read 75% in the bag, hit the calibrate button on the xikar, as well as on the Hygroset. During the time that I was calibrating these, I took all the cigars out of the humidor, and put them in ziplocs with boveda 75% packs. Did some additional seasoning on the humidor. It is still empty, and the readings are 76% for the xikar in the bottom of the humidor, and 74% for the hygroset installed in the front of the humidor. The hygroset seems to be much more sensitive than the xikar. I am confident in the calibration of the hygros at this point. The RH has been where it is at since about 6PM this evening. I am going to check it tomorrow, and then if we are holding stable in the 70's, I will install some cigars and see how it goes. I actually think I rushed the seasoning a little bit, and the humi sucked some moisture out of the cigars. Should I wait till Monday?


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## gsantarelli1 (Dec 13, 2011)

I just bought one of those front-mounts and calibrated it in the exact same way with the exact same Xikar round hygro. I installed the front mount in the humi, and placed the calibrated Xikar inside right next to it. Gave it a few hours, the Xikar read 70 on the dot. I turned the calibration knob in the Hygroset three clicks down, which synced it at 70. I let this sit for a day or two, both were still at 70. If that doesn't work for you, then there has to be a problem with one of the two hygros, or both. 

The low RH reading i think may have to do with your humi itself. It's either not properly seasoned or it has a significant leak.


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